shahbaz sharif

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld an Islamabad High Court (IHC) verdict that had ordered the suspension of prison sentences awarded to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz in the Avenfield corruption reference.

A five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, dismissed National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) plea against the high court’s decision.

The apex court, in its ruling, said that NAB has failed to provide the “ground for cancellation of bail” and that the IHC had not exceeded its authority in granting bail to the convicts of the Avenfield reference.

The Supreme Court’s decision brings a rare relief for the Sharif family, both of whose leaders — Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif — are currently incarcerated.

Read: Avenfield House or ‘tax haven’ house?

At the outset of the hearing today, the chief justice told NAB prosecutor Akram Qureshi to “convince [the bench] why the high court’s ruling should be suspended”.

The chief justice told the NAB counsel to delineate the grounds on which the apex court can suspend the granting of bail. “Also tell us if the high court had the authority to suspend the sentence,” he added.

Qureshi explained that his argument stood on the basis of earlier cases heard by the top court, claiming that bail can only be granted in the case of “hardship”, which was not the reason behind IHC’s verdict.

The NAB prosecutor pointed out that the IHC had questioned the merit of the trial in its judgement — something he said a high court cannot do in a bail plea.

“Nawaz Sharif was granted bail on the same grounds that had led to his conviction,” observed Justice Gulzar Ahmed, who was also part of the bench. “You did not challenge those grounds.”

Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who is set to succeed Justice Nisar as the top judge, said that NAB’s argument was not “solid” and rejected the claim that the high court had exceeded its authority.

He further said that the high court had mentioned that its “observation was not final”.

The chief justice, however, told the NAB prosecutor “that an interim order is never final” and that “it never affects the final verdict either.”

In July 2018, an accountability court had handed Sharif 10 years as jail time for owning assets beyond known income and 1 year for not cooperating with NAB.

His daughter Maryam was given seven years for abetment after she was found “instrumental in concealment of the properties of her father” and one year for non-cooperation with the bureau. Meanwhile, Nawaz’s son-in-law retired Captain Safdar has been given 1 year jail time — for not cooperating with NAB, and aiding and abeting Nawaz and Maryam.

In Sept 2018, the IHC had accepted the convicts’ petitions and suspended the trio’s respective prison sentences — a decision that the corruption watchdog had subsequently challenged in the apex court.

At the outset of the proceedings, a reply was submitted on behalf of Superintendent Kot Lakhpat Jail, wherein it was stated that PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif was lodged in a sub-jail in Islamabad and a medical board had advised him bed rest.

The court ordered to produce Sharif before the court on next hearing. To which, Sharif’s counsel Amjad Pervez submitted that if medical board permits then he has no objection in producing Sharif before the court.

However, NAB Prosecutor Waris Janjua argued that the matter was being delayed as the same ‘reasons’ were used during the last hearing.

At this stage, a police inspector told the court that raids were conducted to arrest Kamran Kayani, Khalid Hussain, and Nadeem Zia after issuance of their arrest warrants during the last hearing, but their houses were locked.

Upon this, the NAB prosecutor pleaded with the court to issue directions for initiating the process of declaring the accused as proclaimed offenders.

The court, after hearing arguments of all parties, ordered for initiating the process of declaring Kayani, Hussain, and Zia as proclaimed offenders.

Furthermore, the court directed for publication of notices in newspapers, ordering the accused to appear in the court till February 11.

The court also ordered for producing Sharif on the next date of hearing, while adjourning the matter till January 24.

If the said accused fail to appear in the court despite the publication of notices in newspapers, it would result in seizure of their properties and issuance of further warrants.

RAWALPINDI: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Naeemul Haq on Saturday distanced the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) from the announcement by Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed that he would challenge in court the appointment of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman.

Speaking at a news conference here on Saturday, Mr Haq defended the government’s decision to nominate Mr Sharif as the PAC head, saying the opposition leader had assured the government through National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser that he would not preside over the meetings of the committee when the audits of the projects undertaken during the term of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government would come up before it.

Denying any differences within the ruling coalition over the issue, Mr Haq said that Prime Minister Imran Khan agreed to Mr Sharif’s nomination as the PAC head as the opposition had stalled the legislative process in parliament by refusing to become part of its committees if the opposition leader was not offered the PAC’s chairmanship.

He said the government wanted to carry out some important legislation for the welfare of the public for which the committees were required. The government had decided to give the chairmanship of 18, out of 38 committees, to the opposition.

In response to a question, Mr Haq said it would be wrong to say that the railways minister had not accepted the prime minister’s decision, adding: “As far as I know, he [Mr Ahmed] only wants an interpretation from the SC over whether a person facing a NAB [National Accountability Bureau] inquiry can head the PAC. It does not mean that he is not accepting Imran Khan’s decision.”

The senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and close aide to Prime Minister Khan acknowledged that the nation was presently facing a difficult time due to the economic conditions, but claimed that the country was moving towards prosperity. He said that Mr Khan would next week announce “revolutionary measures” for eradication of poverty.

He said that friendly countries like China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE had helped Pak­istan in improving its economy.

The prime minister, he said, did not believe in “political victimisation” and all the cases presently being faced by the PML-N and PPP leaders had been filed by the previous governments. Even the government was perturbed over some of the actions taken by NAB against the corporate sector, but it did not want to influence or interfere in the bureau’s affairs.

He made it clear that those people who had plundered the nation’s wealth would be brought to justice.

In response to another question, Mr Haq said the prime minister had already taken notice of the shortage of gas and electricity in the country. He said the government was making all-out efforts to eliminate the menace of loadshedding from the country before the next summer.

Talking about the retrenchments in the media industry, Mr Haq said the prime minister was constantly in touch with the owners of media houses and the government was making every effort to stop sackings from newspapers and TV channels.

“It is intolerable to see people losing jobs during our government. We will stop it and there will be a [good] development within this month,” he said. But at the same time, he said the government had no resources to release advertisements to the news organisations like the previous governments used to do.

He said there were outstanding dues of Rs9 billion which the previous governments had not paid to the news organisations. He alleged that it had been revealed during the audits that some of the advertisements which had been released had not been published.

He also expressed the hope that soon there would be peace in Afghanistan due to the efforts of the prime minister. He said that US President Donald Trump had also expressed the desire to meet Mr Khan.

He said the US was presently holding direct talks with Taliban and hopefully there would be peace in Afghanistan in the next few months.